William Walter McDonald St. Ignatius, i-I ont.
CHAR-KOOSTA
PUBLISHED BY CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES, FLATHEAD AGENCY, MONT.
Vol. 2 No. 1
Nov., 1957
Tribal Elections
In December 1957 the Tribal election will be held for the districts of Ronan, Poison, Dayton-Elmo, Arlee and St. Ignatius. The following named Councilmen terms have expired: Lester Trosper, Ronan district; Jerome Hewankorn, Elmo, Dayton district; Walter McDonald, St. Ignatius district: Walter Morigeau, Arlee district and E. W. Morigeau of the Pol-son district.
The members of the Tribe should show more interest in these Tribal elections. One thing that we must all consider is that all Public Officials are human and that if the individual has the initiative and courage to participate as a candidate
ihen he or she should be complimented or his efforts.
The Tribal Council is the governing body of the Confederated Tribes and the job of Councilman is a thankless job in itself. In the position of Councilman one has to withstand criticism by and argue with the Indian, and non-Indian, Bureau of Indain Affairs, and it makes some of '^s who have been on the Council wonder the position is worth the trouble and time that we give to it. However, I guess that we are interested in the welfare of the people and the Tribal resources, and someone has to do the job. One always hears rumors that the Councilmen seek this position only to live off the Tribal income. This is not true, because most of the Councilmen have jobs or other outside work that they could give their full time to, but in th position of Council-mane on is forced to carry his council work to the point of answering questions in stores, and other places of business. However, if these individuals that are
National Bison Range Donates Buffalo to Local Schools
Superintendent John Swartz of the National Bison Range at Moiese states that the policy of furnishing buffalo meat for the school lunch program is being continued this year as in the past.
There will be two and one half buffaloes donated to the schools through the Tribal Council. This will allow one quarter to be delivered to each of the ten schools with the highest number of Indian Children enrolled.
first to criticize the activities of the councilmen are asked to attnd meetings they never are present at the meetings to voice their criticism.
This writer will make the prediction that the year of 1958 will be the most important year in the history of the Tribes involving the administration of Tribal affairs for the settlement of such serious problems as, Paradise Dam controversy, Third_ Unit, Kerr Dam; poss-ble settlement of Tribal Claims and the termination of Federal Supervision. Some time during the coming year it will be decided whether or not the Tribe will formulate their own liquidation program or whether the Indian Burueau will supply the program for liquidation.
There is a serious need for people on the Tribal Council who will be interested in the welfare of the members of the Tribe and for Councilmen who will take a whole-hearted interest in the major problems of the Tribe. So, let us forget the minor problems and concentrât on the major problems that are facing us.
1957 Christmas Tree Harvest Nearly Completed on Reservation
As of November 19th, the Christmas tree harvesting season on the Flathead Reservation is rapidly coming to an end. Many of the Christmas tree buyers have bought their quota of Christmas trees and are busily baling trees and loading them in box cars or on trucks for shipment to "Someplace, U. S. A."
It is to early yet to tell how successful the harvest will be. Indications are, that this year's income will be below that of last year by a considerable amount. This season will probably rank as the second or third greatest year since records have been kept of the harvest, j Cutters found that they had to work